The purpose of this study is to illustrate the experiences of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children, who escaped the domestic violence, abuse, discrimination and many other desperate marital conditions and are trying to start a new...
The purpose of this study is to illustrate the experiences of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children, who escaped the domestic violence, abuse, discrimination and many other desperate marital conditions and are trying to start a new life in Korea, with a view to examine what kind of relationships they build with Korean society after the disorganization of their families in Korea and what kind of obstacles there are in their way as they adapt to Korean society. With this, the ultimate goal of this study would be to contribute to the discussion on the welfare supports to be provided to them in order for them to live better lives. The specific topics of study are as follows: Firstly, what are the lives of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children like? Secondly, what are the meanings of the lives of such separated marriage-immigrant women and their children? Thirdly, what possible social interventions could be made in order to support their lives?
To answer the topic questions of this study, we applied the research method of Narrative Inquiry by Clandinin & Connelly (2000), which was thought to be the best way to deliver the voices of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children without fragmentation. The participant group of this study was composed of three separated marriage-immigrant women from Philippines and their children. The duration of the survey was from April 2010 to March 2011. The survey was mainly conducted in the forms of interviews and field observation. The collected results of the survey were recorded and then transcribed in writing, and there were other written materials such as the field observation notes, research logs, and the diaries of the children. The collected materials were read repeatedly and went through the process of narrative coding to describe the life stories of the participants. And then, the differences and similarities of the stories were analyzed and interpreted to draw out the meaning of their lives.
The summary of this study is as follows: Firstly, the stories of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children were as follows:
1) Although Irin’s ex-husband had a serious case of agitated depression, he and his family did not tell her when they first got married, and hid it from her throughout the whole period of their marriage. After her divorce, she had a considerable difficulty as she tried to raise her son all by herself. She sent her son, Minjae, to the Philippines or to one of her friends’. And, because of the reality in Korea, where it is extremely difficult to overcome poverty no matter how hard she worked, she was preparing to immigrate back to the Philippines. After the death of her ex-husband, Irin re-married a man from the Philippines and started a new family recently. Minjae shows a high level of dependency onto his mother due to the unstable family environment and the memory of being separated from his mother. The fact that he had no father and his mother was a Filipina caused him to be picked on by his friends. After her re-marriage, he showed internal conflict in his mind as a part of him was nervous about the new life that was started by the appearance of the new father while the other was still missing his deceased biological father.
2) After she separated from her husband, Isabel had to look after her son, Chansik, all by herself. As a result, she sent him back to the Philippines and then brought him back to Korea twice. She was getting help from Sae-Ma-Eum Child Care Center since when Chansik was much younger, as they looked after the child for her. After the separation from her husband, she had virtually no association with other Korean people and mainly socialized with Americans or others from the Philippines. Meanwhile, though she thought she did not have any difficulty in communicating with her son in Korean language, her son, Chansik, found himself frustrated because of some difficulties he had in communicating with his mother in Korean language. Also, Chansik tended to feel awkward when he joined his mother meeting her American or Filipino/Filipina friends, as well as in her reunion with her original family in the Philippines. He also had difficulties in socializing with other Korean friends he met in school.
3) Cindy escaped the violence and abuse from her husband, who was a severe alcoholic and is now living in separation. But, she still showed a high level of distrust to Korean society and Korean people in general due to the utmost rage she had against the husband and the families in law. Also, since she did not have any security in her employment, she was under a severe condition of poverty. Hakyoung was also suffering from the influence of the abuses from her father, having difficulties in blending in at the school or the welfare facility. She even showed a serious case of behavioral problems such as a theft and went through a very tough time. But, as she was transferred to a new school and the management of the facility also changed, she began to show a refreshed desire to be loved as a new human being, indicating signs of changes in herself, as well.
From the stories of the lives of the separated marriage-immigrant women and their children as illustrated above, the following meanings of lives were drawn:
1) For the three women, the marriage migration had all different meanings. For them, the marriage migrations were not totally for material gain as biased by many people. Instead, the backgrounds of the migration were more complex and compound. They wanted to create the opportunities to realize their desires in transnational spaces. For Irin, the marriage migration was an escape from the duty to her original family and a failed marriage. Irin sought to have a happy marriage and be a respected wife, which was her ideal. For Isabel, who was an unwed mother, her expectation was the economic support from a decent marriage and the realization of her desire to overcome the limitations that bound her as she sought for a marriage in the Philippines. In case of Cindy, who was becoming late in terms of her age to get a marriage, the marriage migration was to realize her expectation on the economic support and to become a mother and a wife in spite of the limitation she had in getting a marriage in the Philippines.
2) Unlike what they sought for from the marriage migration, the marriages they had in Korea were far from happy ones. Their motivations of the marriage migrations were totally ignored. The husbands and the families in law were disregarded their desires and thought they were ‘sold’ to them because they thought all the women wanted was to escape from their poverty, which was the typical bias Korean society had on the immigrant women. As a result, they wanted them to be good, obedient foreign brides who never question. Irin suffered the abuses from her father in law and the sense of being betrayed as the husband hid the fact that he had a serious case of agitated depression. Isabel was also denied of the initial arrangement in which she was supposed to be able to send money to support her children in the Philippines in exchange of living with her parents in law. She also suffered her husband who beat her whenever he was drunk and the mother in law who suppressed her by denying her the freedom to go outside and get a job. Cindy suffered the abuses and violence of her husband for seven years without any help. So, the marriage immigrant women finally chose not to tolerate the abuses and violence in their families any more and decided to disorganize their families by means of a divorce or separation. So, disorganizing the family, for them, means a resistance against the suppression and abuses. This fact has a very important meaning, as it shows that these women are in fact much more proactive and assertive in their choices and actions than they are typically thought to be.
3) The course of their lives after the disorganization of the families were shown to be the process in which the immigrant women stayed on the margin of Korean society and tried to find a way to live by their own strategies of their lives. But, living in Korea with the responsibility of supporting their children and themselves was so difficult, and it seemed very unlikely that they would ever have a chance to get out of their poverty. For this, Irin saw this reality in Korea and chose to form a transnational family with a man from the Philippines. She is now preparing to migrate back to the Philippines to expand the economic opportunity of her and her family. In case of Isabel, she was interpreted as someone who had an internal conflict between the two worlds, as she enjoyed the halo of the Korean nationality when she visited the Philippines, while she was only associating with non-Korean people when she was in Korea. Cindy was analyzed to be still trapped in the economic and mental suffering, getting nowhere in her tough life blocked by the unforgiving wall of the reality.
4) In case of the children, while they had the precious assets of the transnational background, which could double their achievement, depending on how they use it, they were still trapped in the sense of being in-between due to the lack of positive experience on their hybridity and the biases in Korean society. Irin taught Minjae of his identity as a transnational subject, who was “Half-Filipino and Half-Korean.” But, his development was blocked by the negative experience he had in the Philippines, the discrimination in Korea and the limitations due to the poverty he lived in. Chansik also experienced awkward relationships both with his mother’s families in the Philippines, the immigrants’ community, and also with Korean society. In case of Hakyoung, her relationship with the Philippines was totally severed while she still had difficulties in blending in Korean society, too.
In the discussions following the above mentioned observations, we focused our discourse on the necessary supports to these immigrants from Korean society based on the meanings of the stories of their lives and experiences drawn out as a result of the survey. Firstly, in the process of marriage, it was suggested that the Korean families should admit that there are different motivations and backgrounds of the transnational marriages and accept the immigrant spouses as an individual with subjectivity, someone with whom they have to live a life as an equal member of their family. Also as another problem, the lack of the information on the male spouses in those marriages, who were by far the most responsible for the failures of the marriages, was pointed out, with a solution suggested. In addition, the biggest problem in their lives before the disorganization of the families was the violence from their husbands, as it turned out. To cope with this problem, it was suggested that supports are needed to allow the marriage-immigrant women to form a network of them, strengthen it, and build their own strategies to fight back such problems. From another perspective, it is also necessary to foster their communication among other marriage immigrant women and their children and a social atmosphere in which the children can be educated on the maternal heritage, including the languages of their mothers so that they could develop their assets of transnationality.
After the disorganization of the families, they were exposed to such a wide range of problems as they thrived to make a living. So, the discussion further pointed out the problems in terms of social welfare. As a result, they turned out to be in need of supports for the legal issues, such as their nationality, divorces, and the fostering of their children after the divorces. Especially, the problem of supporting their children after the divorces was covered with the most extensive attention. In addition, there were discussions on the measures to be taken to foster their economic independence, through establishing their own businesses or job placement, as well as Korean language education. The housing and mental supports were also covered with higher attention, as well as the measures to provoke the attention of the local community and to get rid of the biased perspectives that still exist in Korea.
In the meantime, the children of the marriage-immigrant women turned out to be denied of the educational benefits due to the biases and the limitation of the poverty, which caused them suffer in both ways. Therefore, supports are needed to provide them educational opportunities, such as bi-lingual education, while the attention and supports from the local community and the school are needed to develop their transnational assets and help them adapt into the school lives as well as their lives in Korean society in general. Also, in order to change the biased perspectives held by some members of the community and schools, multicultural education is necessary to help them understand how to respect the cultural differences and respect other cultures, forming an equal relationship. Also, it was discussed that attention is called for the importance of the kind of education in which the children of the marriage-immigrant women would feel free to expose their hybridity and further develop such a trait.